1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, and in particular to a connector comprising a female connector having a female housing and a male connector having a male housing to be fitted to the female connector housing, in which the connector has a fitting detection device for confirming whether a proper fitting of these connector housings has been made.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a connector having such a device is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication No. 53-95187. This connector comprises a male housing and a female housing to be fitted to the male housing. Further, the connector has a fitting detection device which comprises an light-emitting element, a detection element and a reflecting plate on which light emitted from the light-emitting element through a first optical pass is reflected toward the detection element through a second optical pass. These first and second opto-electronic passes are formed at an incline in the female housing and the reflecting plate is provided on the fitting surface of the male housing which faces the optical passes. Further, this connector further comprises a opto-electronic converter element which enables to convert the reflected light at the detection element to an electrical signal.
However, in the conventional connector having the fitting detection device, there are problems in that it is necessary to provide a reflecting plate and optical passes as well as a light-emitting element and a detection element, which thus makes the size of the device large and the structure thereof quite complicated. In addition, as a result of the complicated structure of this device, the process for confirming a proper fitting of the housings is very troublesome.
Furthermore, since the conventional connector has two inclined optical passes formed in the female housing, it is difficult to form the housing, thus leading to increased manufacturing costs.
Moreover, with the fitting detection device of the conventional connector, it was not possible to determine the fitting degree of the housings and it was impossible to determine any other information such as the type of connector being used.